Two Years Before the Mast (1946) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Action Adventure	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1946
Running Time	97:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	John Farrow
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Alan Ladd Brian Donlevy William Bendix Barry Fitzgerald Howard Da Silva Albert Dekker Darryl Hickman Luis Van Rooten Esther Fernandez
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Victor Young

     1843, Boston. Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), playboy son of a wealthy shipping owner, is shanghaied aboard one of his father’s brigs, the Pilgrim, commanded by ex-US Navy Captain Francis Thompson (Howard Da Silva), for a voyage to California. The Pilgrim, and Thompson, have a reputation for making record fast runs between Boston and California, putting profit well above the welfare, and even the lives, of the crew thus men have to be shanghaied before each voyage and forced to sail on her. Indeed, this time only two crewmen go on board willingly; young boy Sam (Darryl Hickman), who stows away, and Richard Dana (Brian Donlevy). Dana’s brother had died on an earlier voyage on the Pilgrim and Dana has signed on in order to gather information to write a book about the mistreatment of merchant sailors. Crew members shanghaied include ship’s cook Terence O’Feenaghty (Barry Fitzgerald) and seaman Brown (Albert Dekker). Order on board the Pilgrim is maintained by First Mate Amazeen (William Bendix), a fair man but under the spell of his captain, and the shifty and cowardly Second Mate Foster (Luis Van Rooten).

     Thompson drives the ship and his crew relentlessly, the crew on meagre and almost inedible rations. Discipline is maintained by flogging; one crewman is flogged, put in chains below and slowly starved to death. After briefly stopping to pick up a special Spanish passenger, Maria Dominguez (Esther Fernandez) and her maid, the Brig rounds Cape Horn. Thompson refuses to stop anywhere to pick up fresh food and men start to die from scurvy and malnutrition. As the Pilgrim sails up the west coast of South America towards Monterey, Charles and Maria start to become attracted to each other but conditions on the Pilgrim become so appalling that mutiny is almost inevitable. Charles, as well as the other officers and crew, must decide what to do.

     Two Years Before the Mast was directed by John Farrow based on the best-selling novel by Richard Henry Dana Jr., whom Donlevy plays in the film. I have not read the book, but others have noted that the film is not very faithful to the novel and certainly the film, released in 1946, shows a rather sanitized view of life at sea in the mid-19th century, which is probably to be expected. Handsome leading man Alan Ladd, whose career spanned three decades and 100 credits, is charismatic as the playboy fop turned sailor, learning about putting others above himself, while the rest of the cast are solid. Brian Donlevy has the sympathetic role; he was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste (1939) and had appeared with Ladd previously in The Glass Key (1942), in which William Bendix, Oscar nominated for Wake Island (1942), also appeared. Indeed, Bendix and Ladd were close friends and appeared in a number of films together including The Blue Dahlia and Calcutta (both 1946) and, over a decade later, in The Deep Six (1958). With players contracted under the old studio system, this interconnection is not unexpected however. To round things out I should add that Howard Da Silva was also in The Blue Dahlia.

     Two Years Before the Mast is a solid adventure, even with the brutality toned down and the ending never in doubt. While the addition of a love interest for Ladd is perfunctory, scenes of a two masted Brig at sea under full sail and this impressive cast make the film always worth watching.

Video

     Two Years Before the Mast is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in NTSC and is not16x9 enhanced.

     This is a reasonable black and white print for a film this vintage. Wide establishing shots of the ship at sea are quite soft while close-ups and interiors, such as below decks, have improved detail although one could never say they were razor sharp. Blacks are more grey and shadow detail in the darkness below decks can be very indistinct with a grey screen; see 68:34 for one example. There were frequent small speckles on the print plus reel change markings, but nothing serious. Pleasing grain is evident.

     No subtitles are provided.

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Audio

     The audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 192 Kbps.

     Dialogue is clean. The effects are fine for a mono audio; the sound of the wind and the waves, the groan of ship’s timbers, and gunshots and cannon shots are good. The score by twelve times Oscar nominated Victor Young, winner for Around the World in 80 Days (1956), can be shrill at times.

     There was slight crackle in one scene that did not have music, effects or dialogue.

     The lip synchronisation was fine except in one scene when Ladd was talking but his lips did not seem to move!

Audio Ratings Summary

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     Nothing. The menu is silent and offers only “Play Feature”.

     I can find advertised US and Italian released standalone DVDs of Two Years Before the Mast plus the film is included in various movie collections. Two Years Before the Mast here in Australia is released as part of 5 disc / 5 film The Alan Ladd Collection Volume One, a collection which does not seem to have been released elsewhere. See the summary section below for details.

     Two Years Before the Mast was one of over 700 Paramount productions filmed between 1929 and 1949 which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution and was considered important enough to launch the MCA / Paramount series on many television stations around the US. For most people, if they have seen the film at all, it would be on black and white television. Two Years Before the Mast is a decent adventure with a good cast, including the handsome Alan Ladd, and it is great to see the film get a release as part of this Alan Ladd collection so we can all enjoy it again.

     The video and audio are reasonable, no extras.

     Two Years Before the Mast is included in the 5 disc / 5 film set The Alan Ladd Collection Volume One of films made by Ladd between 1946 and 1961. There is nothing included here that would be up there with his most memorable roles, but it is an interesting collection for fans nonetheless. Four of these films date from between 1946 and 1951, a period when Ladd was at the height of his popularity as a leading man: Two Years Before the Mast, Calcutta (1947), Red Mountain (1951) and Thunder in the East (1951); the other, 13 West Street, from 1961, is the second last film Ladd made before his death.

     The Alan Ladd Collection Volume One was supplied for review by Via Vision Entertainment. Check out their Facebook page for the latest releases, giveaways, deals and more.

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